~ A Pro Republican Blog

Update: Tony Pham appears to have won the recount (H/T Jerry Baldwin):

Original post below:

Election isn’t over in Henrico County as a recount will decide nominee for Commonwealth’s Attorney.

With Jeff Everhart leading Tony Pham by only 32 votes (a 0.18% margin) after all the ballots were counted, the contest to be the Republican Nominee for Henrico County’s Commonwealth’s Attorney will go to a recount. As the contest is so close, Tony Pham has the right to a state-funded recount and has indicated that he will exercise that right.

This race hasn’t been as high-profile as others in the area as was overshadowed by the storyline of heavy-weight Bill Janis v. Walter Stosch’s hand-picked heir Siobhan Dunnavant, and the latter’s highly questionable tactics toward the end of the race. In part, because the race between Pham and Everhart was run as a primary should be. The race was a respectful challenge between two accomplished candidates, one citing his prosecutorial and public service credentials (Pham) and the other his significant track record as a successful trial attorney (Everhart). Neither took the low road at any time during the primary, and either would make a formidable challenger to the embattled Democrat incumbent Shannon Taylor.

The excellent character shown by the candidates has continued into the re-count process as no grandiose proclamations of victory of malfeasance have surfaced. In fact, this is a text book of how Ronald Reagan would wish candidates to act in a primary. I hope that others can learn from their example and run on their own merits and accomplishments, rather than trying to tear down their fellow Republican in an attempt to grasp victory over integrity.

Thank you to Pham and Everhart and good luck to both of you in the recount. Either of you will be a fantastic candidate to defeat Shannon “Joe Morrisey’s Girl” Taylor, and I hope that you look to each other as candidates when considering how to rebuild the staff that Ms. Taylor so greatly diminished. Either way, both Pham and Everhart have bright political futures.

Correct, this is the canvas. A recount is a formal procedure that follows the canvas, but absent irregularities it is unlikely to change the votes. It remains to be seen whether there are such irregularities.